Yours Truly
by Zanna Tinuviel
Summary: For Qui-Gon, Tahl has always been the only one. From Initiates to death, they are always together. Lyrical fic, slightly AU pre/Jedi Apprentice era. QuiTahl angst.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: This originally started out as just one fic, for my Tumblr, because I fell in love with a song and linked the song to a couple, but things got out of hand. It will be 4 chapters, I believe, and this first is going to be a double upload. It's one of my in-between projects while I'm working on _134 Days_. **

**This is an AU (Slight, but still an AU) of Qui-Gon and Tahl's relationship, from Initiates to her death, and beyond. I took liberties here and there. Mostly because when I started writing, I had not yet finished the New Apsolon arc in _Jedi Apprentice_. (Technically I'm still not done, lazy me.) But it can still mold around the original quite well. **

**So welcome to QuiTahl feelsy land.**

 **Lyrics from "Yours Truly" by Paradise Fears.**

* * *

 _Dear Tomorrow,_

 _You've been shining so brightly  
I'll be holding on tightly  
To the words that you said_

* * *

Initiate Jinn does not have many friends. Every other Initiate at the Temple has at least one; that person they can go to with secrets, or hope to be pitted against in training.

But not Qui-Gon Jinn.

He doesn't need them. Jedi don't form attachments, and Qui-Gon wants to be a great Jedi.

As it is, no one will put up with him. He's too stubborn, they tell him. Too inclined to havoc and rule-breaking, the instructors say. Or, as his creché-master exasperatedly phrases it, a "constant headache".

But it doesn't matter, because he's never known anything except his isolation.

Not until he sees _her._

* * *

 _Because you took that one moment_

 _So much more than alone then  
We were out on our own then  
Until you took me in_

* * *

Qui-Gon vividly remembers the first time he encountered Initiate Uvain. He was ten, she was nine.

Of course, he has seen her before. Many times. Everyone knows about Tahl Uvain; she came to the Temple older than most. She has a sharp wit and a sharper tongue, and her saber skills are fast-approaching those of the advanced Initiates.

She's also every bit an outsider as Qui-Gon is.

He watches her from a distance, marveling at her skill, but always too headstrong and afraid to approach her. Silently, he wishes they could be paired off in training. Tahl Uvain would give him a match of wits and saber skills like he has never known.

But he stays aloof, unaware that she is watching him as he watches her.

* * *

 _Then you sat down next to me with your heart on you sleeve  
If I never would've met you then I never would believe  
Someone like you would be writing to someone like me_

* * *

Then it happens.

She catches his gaze across the refectory. Cerulean eyes challenge gold-striped, and Tahl lifts her chin proudly, walks purposefully across the crowded room, and thumps her tray down onto his otherwise empty table.

"Initiate Uvain," Qui-Gon says, almost tonelessly. _Almost._

He cannot quite keep a note of surprise from those two words.  
Surely she's heard about him from the others.

"Initiate Jinn," she replies in kind, quirking an already-arched eyebrow higher. "I hear you're quite the maverick."

"I hear you're quite the swordswoman," he shoots back, startled. She has a quicker tongue than he expected, especially from a nine-year-old.

She stares at him for a long moment. Without quite knowing why, Qui-Gon holds his breath.

Until a grin breaks across her face, lighting it up brighter than the sunrise glinting rose-colored hues off the windows of Coruscant, and the breath catches suddenly in his chest.

"Call me Tahl," she says, and holds out her hand to shake.

That was how their friendship began.

* * *

 _Signed, Yours Truly…_

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**

 **Check out my tumblr, zannatinuviel, for more short fics (t o n s) and updates on ongoing fics - including character playlist links! I also post fanart there!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Second part of the double-upload. This segment progresses until the beginning of the New Apsolon arc. It's very short, I apologize for that. Hopefully I can compensate with a longer one next time.**

 **This one sticks pretty close to canon.**

 **Lyrics from "Yours Truly" by Paradise Fears.**

* * *

 _Dear My Someday,_

 _I'll keep writing you nightly  
And keep holding on tightly  
To the words that you said_

* * *

Theirs is a friendship woven fast and strong, knotted with the Force and corded with a mutual respect and understanding. They spar together, banter together, meditate together.

They grow up together.

They are chosen as Padawans, and though their paths part, they are never too far. He watches her grow into a proud, strong woman, and thanks the Force for blessing him with such a close friend.

Then comes the day when he looks into the mirror and sees that he has become a man.

They are Knighted, and their paths, for the first time, take them to very different roads.

* * *

 _So proud of who you became now  
You're in a world without chains now  
You let your heart lead your brain  
How you always wanted to be_

* * *

Their dynamic drastically changes after Melida/Daan. Qui-Gon finds their friendship tested at every turn as he reaches to lend a hand to Tahl, only to have it slapped away irritably.

He knows she is capable; this is something about her he prides. Tahl has never stopped being strong. But now she simply will not let him in.

They argue. They say things they regret. They avoid one another. They find errors to criticize.

At the end of the day, Qui-Gon and Tahl find themselves more alone than they were as Initiates.

So she simply leaves.

* * *

 _But when I'm sitting here alone I can't help but to think  
Looking back on the people that we used to be  
Why does being so free mean so far away from me?_

* * *

Qui-Gon throws himself into trainings and missions and his Padawan, and Tahl steps aside, venturing off on missions of her own. Their meetings are scant, but at least the two do not find so much to bicker about.

He misses when they would never conceal anything from one another, when she would let him in and really speak to him, not just talk.

Qui-Gon misses the complete trust they had, how they would not feel the need to prove themselves to each other. He holds onto the hope that maybe that can be regained.

Then comes his vision.

Then she goes to New Apsolon.

* * *

 _Signed, Yours Truly…._

* * *

 **To Be Continued.**

 **Y'know, this really isn't that angsty so far. I shall have to remedy that.**

 **Reviews are cherished!**


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